IN THE KNOW: A trail of Cordillera bus/truck accidents
Feb. 21, 2013 – Marcos Highway in Benguet: 7 dead
Thirty-one students of Marinduque State College were on the Baguio leg of a Manila-Ilocos-Baguio field trip on Feb. 18-21 and were being driven back to Manila along with two teachers and two tour guides when the bus driver lost control of the vehicle and collided with a food container truck along Marcos Highway in Sitio Bontiwey, Barangay Badiwan in Tuba, Benguet.
Oct. 29, 2011 – Bauko,
Mt. Province: 5 dead, 38 hurt
An Isuzu Elf truck carrying wedding guests from Benguet fell into a ravine in Bauko, Mt. Province. It was traveling along a section of Halsema Highway in Sitio Lukib in Barangay (village) Monamon Sur, when the driver lost control of the vehicle at 7:45 p.m.
Aug. 18, 2010 – Sablan, Benguet: 42 dead
A La Union-bound Eso-Nice bus plunged into a 150-foot deep ravine in Sablan, Benguet, killing 42 of its 50 passengers. The accident led the Department of Transportation and Communications to investigate the kabit system, an illegal arrangement where a bus company allows private bus owners to operate using its franchise.
Dec. 23, 2007 – Marcos Highway: 1 dead
A bus driver of a university in Bicol was killed while at least six others were hurt when their bus hit a boulder along Marcos Highway in Tuba, Benguet. The bus, registered to the government-run Bicol University in Legazpi City, was carrying 42 teachers and students, two drivers and two relatives of one of the drivers, but only six were confined for various injuries at Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.
May 11, 2005 – Marcos Highway: 27 dead, 17 hurt
More than 20 minutes after it left Baguio for Dagupan City, a Byron Bus Line bus developed mechanical trouble, turned turtle, and crashed into a roadside boulder along Marcos Highway in Barangay Badiwan, Benguet. The bus was torn in half and many passengers were thrown out. A total of 27 people died while 17 others were hurt.
Feb. 2, 2002 – Barangay Poblacion, Benguet: 16 dead
A Norton Bus was negotiating an eroded and narrow dirt road in Barangay Poblacion in Benguet when it hit a mountainside and fell into a 37-meter ravine. The accident site is 53 kilometers from Baguio. The bus was bound for Kabayan town in Benguet.
Sources: Inquirer Archives
